The Climb
by T. Rycbar
Summary: There's no doubt, someone had to fix the misaligned warp core after Marcus' attack on the Enterprise. The captain was willing, even if he had to incapacitate Scotty to do so. But what if someone else intervened and took Kirk's place? (rating for character death)


Ensign Ada Howard typed frantically at her post, sparing nervous glances at the warp core maintenance hatch across the walkway. If she could just figure out a way to divert enough power to stabilize the ship, even for a few minutes, the bridge crew would have enough time to get the Enterprise's evacuation protocols underway. Not everyone would have to die.

"Come on, come on!" she cried, pounding at the sides of her station as one last simulation ran through the terminal. Her last hope. She ignored the warning light in the corner of her workstation, notifying her that the gravity systems were failing. It didn't matter, not now.

After all, what system _wasn't_ failing?

Ada gritted her teeth as the deck below her began to tilt to the right, and quickly grabbed hold of the railing on the side of the walkway.

She tried to block out the screams of the unlucky crewmembers who hadn't found something to grab hold of by keeping her eyes locked on the screen of her workstation, but it was impossible to ignore them completely. Especially when it was very likely that her screams would be joining theirs within the next few minutes.

The ship kept tilting to the right until, for a brief moment, Ada found herself dangling over a completely vertical drop with only her grip on the metal railing keeping her from falling to her death.

Debris and…and some of her colleagues rained down around her, and she squeezed her eyes shut, not even opening them when she felt something graze her forehead on its way down. Something warm and sticky started running down the side of her face, and she knew it was blood, but she barely gave it a passing thought because her fingers were starting to slip. She let out a whimper, resigned to the fact that her hands wouldn't hold out much longer and then she would fall to her death…and then she felt the deck tilting back.

She could have sobbed in relief when the deck finally leveled out, but instead forced herself up to her feet so she could review the results of her simulation.

Her heart sank.

The ship was dead.

There was no technical way to fix a misaligned warp core without weeks, even months, of preparation and careful calibrations. Even if she wanted to attempt to do it manually, she'd have to make it all the way from there to the other side of Engineering to reach the manual override switch to divert the necessary power. There was no time. They had mere minutes before they were going to crash to the surface of the Earth.

Ada couldn't help but release a nervous laugh at the idea, even as she clung to the sides of her station desperately, the ship shaking and tilting in its descent. Ever since Kirk announced their mission; going into Klingon space to retrieve the criminal known as John Harrison, or Khan, as he'd been referred to since the captain brought him back to the brig, all she had been praying for was their safe return to Earth. Something about this mission had never sat right with Ada, even from the beginning.

_Well, I may not have been granted the 'safe' bit of that prayer, but at least we're going home,_ she thought grimly. Having spent the entire ordeal deep in Engineering, struggling to keep the ship running, Ada wasn't entirely sure about the details of how they came to be in their current situation. She knew it involved Admiral Marcus, Khan, and the Klingon Empire's distaste for the Federation. Besides that, she had been too busy with the ship to really get a good grasp on what was happening.

_And now we're all going to die. I don't even know what it's for, but I'm dying today,_ she realized, nervous smile fading away. _At least…I'll finally be able to see Odion again. And mother and father. _

Ada was jolted out of her thoughts by the unsettlingly cool feminine voice of the computer.

"Danger. Core misaligned. Danger. Core misaligned," it repeated calmly. Ada could practically feel the gears in her head churning at the unexpected information. The reason she'd had to run simulations without the computer's assistance was because of the lack of power.

_If someone hit the override switch on the other side of Engineering, then that means…_ She let go of the sides of the console in shock, taking a step back and running a shaky hand through her hair.

"If the computer has power, then…" Ada turned her head to look at the hallway leading to the maintenance hatch.

But before she could make a move, she caught sight of the Captain, Commander Scott hot on his heels, racing down the walkway in her direction. Neither acknowledged her presence, which she wasn't really concerned about, considering the circumstances. She opened her mouth to inform the Commander of the situation, but the computer beat her to it.

"Ah, no no no no no!" Commander Scott cried, pounding the console in frustration. "The housings are misaligned, there's no way we can redirect the power. The ship's dead, sir. She's gone."

Kirk stopped for a moment, thinking over the situation. And then he seemed to notice Ada for the first time, whose attention was back on the passage leading to the maintenance hatch. His eyes widened and he spun around, realizing the solution.

"No, she's not," he breathed, turning to run towards the hatch. Commander Scott took off after him, protesting all the way. Ada followed on Scott's heels, having a grave suspicion of what the captain was planning to do.

"Wait, Jim!" Commander Scott called, struggling to keep up with Kirk. "If we go in there, we'll die! Do you hear me? The radiation will kill us! Will you listen to me?!"

Kirk slowed to a stop by the control panel to the maintenance shaft. He started typing the override codes to the lock, even as his chief engineer continued protesting, loudly. Ada skidded on the smooth floor before stopping just outside the heavily layered door, panting a little from the fast pace.

"What the hell are you doing?" Scott demanded, attempting to force Kirk around to face him. Finally, the captain paused long enough to answer the distressed man.

"I'm opening the door. I'm going in," he replied shortly, attention mostly focused on the panel.

"That door is there to stop us from getting irradiated! We'd be dead before we make the climb," he said, voice dropping in resignation at the last couple words. Ada watched the captain stop, breathing heavily. When he finally spoke again, he confirmed her earlier suspicions of his plan. She took a small step away from Kirk, just enough to be out of his reach.

"You're not making the climb," he said softly.

Scott only had half a second to register Kirk's words before the captain turned and dropped him with a solid right hook. Luckily, the captain was quick enough to catch the engineer before he hit the floor, leaning him against an emergency seat and activating the safety harness.

When he turned, he seemed to have forgotten Ada's presence. He opened his mouth, no doubt to command her to step aside so he could get through the maintenance hatch, but her mind was already made up. Before he could even get a word out, she stepped forward and delivered a solid right hook of her own.

The captain dropped just as quickly as Commander Scott had, but Ada wasn't fast enough to prevent him from hitting the floor. Nonetheless, she grabbed hold of his prone form under the armpits and dragged him to the emergency seat next to the Scotsman, activating his safety harness as well.

"Sorry, captain. But you're not making that climb, either. The Enterprise needs you," she said quietly. Then, she turned and ran into the maintenance hatch without looking back.

Ada felt the scorching heat of the core as soon as she stepped inside the chamber. But half a beat later, the heat was the least of her worries. It felt like everything, from deep in her bones to the roots of her hair, was screaming out in pain. It was agony. She hesitated for just a moment just inside the door, breathing heavily and working up the strength to keep moving.

As the ship gave another frightening jerk, she heard distant echoes of her crewmates screaming. She narrowed her eyes in determination. People were dying. She could save them. If she can just endure this for a couple minutes, it will have been worth it.

Ada fell to her knees and began to crawl through the narrow passageway. She moved one hand forward. And then another. And another. She kept forging on, even as her lungs started to burn with each breath she took and she began to notice the skin of her hands blistering from the cellular damage.

After what seemed like eternity, she reached the end of the tunnel. The warp core housing structures were, just as the computer had reported, misaligned. Badly.

Without hesitation, Ada scaled the structure, hauling herself upwards with the assistance of the many fuel and coolant lines running to and from the core. Within seconds, she was standing right next to the bottom housing cell, the one that was out of line.

Thinking fast, she reached her arms up to hold onto a piece of the upper housing cell and swung her legs downward, kicking the misaligned section in the direction it needed to go.

If the pain at the entrance to the maintenance tunnel was agony, this was something worse. With each kick, Ada could feel the housing cell getting closer and closer to its original position, and her body growing closer and closer to giving out. Moving caused white-hot pain to flare throughout her body. Breathing was torture. Hell, even thinking was beginning to hurt.

But she kept at it. Over and over and over. She had never put much stock in stories of near-death experiences, and she didn't believe in God or the afterlife or anything like that. She believed in science.

But with every kick, Ada found her mind drifting, random little pieces of her life coming and going. She and Odion's 10th birthday party. Climbing a tree in their backyard. Watching the stars race by on her first day on the Enterprise. Odion's funeral. Her 5th grade science fair. Studying for exams with her academy roommate.

And suddenly Ada realized that she was watching her life flash by.

_And this is how it ends,_ she thought sadly, giving another kick. It was almost in place. She could feel it. One more kick. She lifted her legs up, preparing for one last surge of effort.

Then, she brought her legs down and finally, the housing units were aligned. The bright charge of the core snapped back into place, throwing Ada roughly from the structure. She groaned, struggling to roll back onto her front so she could get back to the tunnel. Everything hurt, and her body was starting to shut down. Her limbs refused to respond correctly, and she kept having to shake herself awake. But in spite of it all, a small smile graced her lips as she began the crawl back to the maintenance door.

She had done it. Her death, though imminent, was going to mean something. Everyone else was going to live.

After what seemed like another eternity, Ada reached the end of the passage and slumped against the cool glass of the door. She felt something warm trickling from the corner of her mouth, so she reached up a shaky hand to wipe it away. When she put her hand back down to rest on her lap, the streak of red on the back of her sleeve caught her attention. That was her blood. It was coming from her mouth. The small smile slipped from her face.

She knew she did the right thing, but…Ada was scared. She didn't want to die. Her breaths were becoming even more labored, and she began to panic a little. She had made her decision, and she didn't regret it, per se.

But she was still scared.

A few tears slipped down her cheeks, and she was so wrapped up in her own panic that she didn't notice at first when someone approached the other side of the glass. It wasn't until they lightly rapped their knuckles against the surface that she even looked up.

The captain, now sporting a large bruise on his left jaw, was crouched down in front of the door, a wide-eyed Commander Scott pacing in the hallway behind him while talking to someone frantically on his communicator. Ada could barely work up the strength to keep her head up, but she forced herself to do it. She was about to die, no doubt about it. But she didn't want to do it alone.

Kirk had a frustrated, but sympathetic look about him. He just studied her for a moment, but spoke up when another stray tear made its way down Ada's face.

"Hey, hey, it's alright. You don't have to cry. Scotty over there is gonna get this door open and then we're going to get you out of there, ok" he said quietly, glancing over his shoulder at the mention of the engineer.

Ada shook her head slowly, and took a quick breath before answering.

"N-no. De-Decon-" she had to stop when a fit of coughing wracked her frame, flecks of blood shooting out of her mouth. She didn't bother to wipe it away this time. Kirk shifted closer, a pained look crossing his face before he forced it away.

"Ok, ok. Decontamination, I got it," he said. He paused, trying to think of something to say. "You've got a helluva right hook, you know that?"

Ada smiled in spite of herself. Odion had taught her how to punch. Kirk continued, encouraged by her slight reaction.

"You saved the ship. She's got power, and we're no longer being pulled into Earth's orbit. You did it." He sobered at those words, and looked at her seriously. "And you saved me. Thank you. Truly."

Ada's smile faded, as she listened to Kirk's thanks. She realized that she could no longer feel much of her body. The pain was gone, but somehow that made everything even more frightening. And real. There would be no last-minute rescue from this. She looked at Kirk, growing a little frantic.

"Sir. I'm – I'm s-scared. I'm p-proud th-that I helped, but…I – I'm scared," she pleaded, grasping at the only lifeline she could see. Another tear slid down her face. She couldn't even ask for someone to hold her hand as she went, because of the stupid glass door. Kirk opened his mouth, then closed it again, struggling to find something, anything to say.

Dimly, Ada noticed that her vision was starting to fade. She caught a glimpse of Commander Scott, accompanied by two figures in blue shirts, race forward to where Kirk was kneeling, but she kept her focus on the captain. Just as she began to think that she would die in silence, he spoke up again.

"I know. I know you are, ensign. Just...focus on me, alright? I'm not going anywhere, I promise. You can rest now," he said, voice cracking at the end. He paused a moment before adding something else, so quiet that it was almost a whisper.

"You did good, kid."

Ada couldn't even find the strength to nod. Her eyes slipped closed, and she took one more shallow breath before falling still.

**O*O*O*O*O*O**

Jim fell back numbly as he saw the young engineer's eyes close and ragged breathing stop. He could hear Bones cursing quietly behind him, but he had yet to take his eyes off the girl.

_That should have been me,_ he thought, clenching his hands in frustration. _That girl in there sacrificed herself for me and…and I don't even know her name._

He stood and spun around at the realization, addressing the three officers standing solemnly behind him.

"Who was she?" he demanded, eyeing each man in turn. Spock shook his head minutely. Scotty furrowed his brow, eyes darting between the now deceased ensign and the floor in front of him. After a few seconds, he shook his head too.

"I know she works – erm, _worked_ with the warp core and maintaining the integrity of its coolant lines, but…I dunno, Jim. I have a lot of engineers, I don't have time to learn everyone's names, you know that," Scotty replied sadly, turning away from the body. Kirk looked to Bones last, whose attention was focused on the PADD he'd brought with him.

"Well? Who was she, Bones?" Kirk demanded, growing more impatient.

Deep down, he knew that the reason for his lashing out was the immense guilt he felt for allowing the ensign to take his place, but he was perfectly content to ignore his more logical side. That's what he had Spock for. McCoy finally looked up, leveling his friend with a glare, although it was tinged with grief.

"Ensign Ada Howard," he replied shortly, looking back to the PADD for the rest of the information. "She was 20 years old, been with the Enterprise since the Nero incident. Her twin brother, Odion Howard, served as a nurse on the Farragut during the same crisis, but he never made it home. Parents died in an accident when they were kids. No living relatives."

Kirk clenched his hands tighter, struggling to keep his growing anger and grief in check.

"20 years old," he said between gritted teeth, turning back to face Ensign Howard's body. "She was only 20. Years. Old."

Bones shifted behind him, moving up to place a hand on Kirk's shoulder. Jim could barely feel it. It wasn't just this one death. It was all of them. Pike, the man he loved like a father. The woman he and Scotty failed to catch during their perilous journey to the warp core. The hundreds who had been blown up, or sucked out into space as first Marcus, then Khan, fired upon on his ship. The dozens that would die in the days to come, succumbing to injury or illness brought on by today's events.

How many of them were as young as Ada Howard? How many were younger? With every second that ticked by, Jim could feel his anger growing. Marcus was dead, but Khan…if anyone could survive the USS Vengeance's perilous return to earth, he could.

And that was unacceptable.

Jim let out a shaky breath before slipping back into his captain's persona. There was still work to do.

"Bones, you stay here with Scotty. Get Ensign Howard out of there as soon as the decontamination cycle is over," Kirk ordered, voice hard and professional. "Mr. Spock, you're with me."

Without waiting for an answer, Kirk spun around and began walking briskly back down the corridor.

"Wait, Jim!" Bones called, sounding more than a little worried. "Where are you going?"

Kirk didn't turn or even slow down as he gave his answer.

"Khan," he growled, striding purposefully away from the core.

Khan was going to pay.


End file.
